The World is Yours
by Agent R
Summary: Before, with, and after the money, the power, and the woman, Tony Montana had on the side something he'd never dreamed of.
1. Chapter 1

The World is Yours

Author's note: This is my first attempt at a "Scarface" story, after seeing the movie once,so Ihope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue.

It was two in the morning and Tony couldn't sleep; he had a lot on his mind. The wedding was only a few days away and there were a million things to do, but nothing that could be done at this time of night. He couldn't think straight about any of it so he decided to go out for a while and get some air. So he got out of bed and changed out of his fancy silk pajamas into a red Hawaiian shirt and some tan pants. He tried being as quiet as possible, but it was no good, Elvira still heard him.

"Where're you going, Tony?" she asked as she turned over in bed to face him.

Tony wondered if he should tell her the truth, and decided he'd tell her partially the truth. "I cannot sleep, I going out for a while…I be back."

"Promise?" Elvira groggily asked.

Tony let out a single laugh. "What, you think I'm going to run off with someone else? No, I coming back."

"In one piece?"

"Yes, now go back to sleep," Tony replied.

Tony slipped on a jacket and placed some moneyin his pocket before going downstairs.

The Golden Crown, Tony had never been there before, but he heard it was a good place to kill time and make, or lose, quite a bit of money.It was also one of the only casinos that was still open this late in this part oftown.Heparked the Porsche in the parking lotand headed in.

The first place Tony went to was the bar, the current bartender had their back turned to him, Tony said 'hey' a couple of times, but the bartender didn't seem to hear him.

"Hey, you fucking deaf or something? I want a drink," Tony said.

The bartender turned around and Tony couldn't believe they'd let this guy work here, he didn't look anymore than 15 or 16, at the most. He was a couple inches shorter than Tony and had short dark hair, bright blue eyes, a light tan and he was dressed in faded blue jeans and a white sleeves shirt.

"Sorry pal, what will ya have?" the kid asked.

"Sheesh, they let you work in here so young?" Tony asked.

The kid laughed, "I'm not as young as you think, chico."

"Funny," Tony said, not amused, "well your voice isn't done cracking yet…"

"You have no idea," the kid replied, "now what is it you want?"

"Get me a gin," Tony told him, "no wait, get me two."

The kid turned back around and poured him the drinks and turned back around to hand them to him, "$2.50."

"Already?" Tony asked.

"Boss likes money upfront," the kid said.

"Two-fifty," Tony sneered as he took the money out of his pocket, "I spit on two-fifty."

Tony handed the kid a hundred, expecting him to say he couldn't make change for it, but instead the kid pulled a bunch of bills out of his pocket and dropped the folded bills intoTony's hand, "you want the 50 cents too?"

"Fuck no, matter of fact," Tony dropped the change back on the bar's counter, "keep the fucking money, I'm making enough I can afford to lose this."

"Mighty generous of you sir, come here often?" the boy asked as he stuffed the money back in his pocket.

"No, this is my first night here…I hear it's good," Tony said as he looked around.

"You bet, we got just about every type of gambling in this joint, you name it, you can probably play it," the kid said.

"Thanks, uh…you know where the roulette tables are?" Tony asked.

The kid pointed to the back of the casino, "want a tip?"

"Sure."

"No one's having much luck tonight, but if you want a quick winning and turn a few heads, then take 33," the kid said.

Tony nodded, he didn't really care if he won or lost, but it might raise a few eyebrows if people were having that poor of luck winning. He turned around with both drinks in his hands and was about to leave when he heard the kid call from behind, "Montana!"

Tony thought he'd drop his glasses, he wasn't really worried that the kid knew him, just shocked, that kid made no recognition that he knew him before. He went back over to the bar and said in a low voice so only the two of them heard, "what did you say?"

The kid looked down for a minute as if he was trying to remember what he said, and he looked up at Tony again. "I said, Montana…that's your name, right?"

"Fucking right, but why didn't you say anything before?" Tony asked.

"I just remembered you...it's been a while," the kid said.

Tony thought one of them had to be out of their fucking minds and he was pretty sure it wasn't him, he never saw this guy before.

"You don't remember, me, do you?" the kid asked.

Tony thought about it until his head hurt, the kid did seem familiar now that he thought of it, but from where?

Now it came back to him, back when he and Manny were working in that grease ball diner washing dishes, a delivery kid would come in every few days with a package for their boss. He didn't pay much attention to the kid, but the kid had no intention of leaving right away, sohe stuck in the kitchen while Tony and Manny did upa batch of dishes and listened to them ramble on about their plans for America. The kid seemed to be fascinated by it all. After a few trips, the kid seemed to grow on them like a wart, particularly on Tony.

One time the kid had come in without their boss knowing and listened to them for two hours, Tony told Manny that he was getting tired of scrubbing the grease off pans and plates and how he was getting anxious to take the world by storm, leave his mark on it and all those American clichés.

"Hey Tony, when you get to be something, can I go with you?" the kid asked.

"You fucking kidding me?" he asked, "why would you want to do that?"

"You think you're the only one who wants to get out of this hellhole?" the kid asked.

"You're okay, kid…but I think it'd be better if you found your own way," Tony told him, "I'm barely getting by putting up with Manny, I can't look after someone half my age."

"Too bad," the kid said, "I think we could really go places if we put our minds to it."

That was the last they'd seen of the kid, until tonight.

"You delivered packages to that prick at the grease diner, eh?" Tony asked.

"That's right, chico, you could say I've had a few growth spurts since."

That's for fucking sure, Tony thought as he looked the kid over.

"What's your name?" Tony asked. It suddenly dawned on him he'd never before learned the kid's name.

"They call me 'Mister Nash' around here," he said.

"Nash, huh? Allright then, Nash, how's it going?" Tony asked.

"Not so hot…you?" he asked.

"I'm getting married in a few days," Tony announced, "to Elvira Hancock."

"Hancock? I thought she was Frank Lopez's woman," Nash said.

"That's right, she was, but no more," Tony said, "he die and now she marrying me…I couldn't be happier."

"He die?" Nash repeated, "how?"

"By sticking his nose where it wasn't wanted," Tony replied.

"So how is his wife?" Nash asked.

"Eh…I don't know…she can be nice, she can be pleasant, then she can be like my mother," Tony said.

"How was she when you met her?" Nash asked.

"Worse than my mother, she was tired of both of us, her husband and myself," Tony replied.

"Then how did you know you wanted to marry her?" Nash asked.

"I knew she wanted me, I could tell it in her eyes…"

"Is she pregnant?" Nash asked.

"Not yet, but I hope soon…" Tony said.

"Seriously?" Nash asked.

"Yeah, is there a problem with that?" Tony asked, "I like them all, boys, girls, it don't matter to me, but I want to be a father. I don't think that's too much to ask, do you?"

"How many do you want?" Nash asked.

"It don't matter to me," Tony said, "maybe one, maybe ten, I'll take whatever we get."

"There's something you don't hear too often," Nash said, "I bet however many you get, you'll be a hell of a father."

Tony realized that it was getting late and he should probably get going. He wanted to have a good time and get back home before the sun came up. "It was nice talking to ya again, kid…I see ya round."

Nash just nodded as Tony headed over tothe roulette table, he took six hundred bucks out of his pocket and dropped it on the table, "33, black."

* * *

Tony had quite some luck that night; he only lost $2,000 and made $14,000 back at the end of it all. That was more money than he had planned on getting back, so he figured he'd come quite a ways already in his business and his dream, so he might as well give Nash a lift up too. Tony headed back to the bar and found another bartender on duty. "Hey," he said to the guy, "where's the kid that was here before, Nash?" 

"In the back," the guy said.

Tony didn't bother asking if he could get in the back, he was going to and he did. The back looked like a hideout used during Prohibition, but there was more to the back than just this room. He heard water running in a shower in the next room so he went in, he found one shower currently in use, and he and Nash had to be the only ones in the back, so he pulled the curtain back about an inch and called in, "Nash?"

"Yeah?"

"I got something for you."

Nash grabbed two towels before he came out, he had one wrapped around his waist, and the other went around his neck and came down on his chest.

"What is it?" Nash asked.

"I made more tonight than I thought, I want you to take part of it, maybe you can get out of this hellhole of a job," Tony said.

Nash turned off the shower and headed over to where he kept his clothes, "Thanks, Montana…you're an okay guy."

Nash removed the towel that was covering his chest and now Tony knew why he had it on in the first place, this guy had 2 small but obvious breasts, and that was all the lower Tony looked before he turned around and stared at the wall.

"Shit kid, I'm sorry, I didn't know you was a lady," he said, still not daring to look at her.

"Few people do," she replied as she got dressed, "more people are gonna mess with a girl than a guy anyway, so I use it to my advantage."

After she had finished dressing, she told Tony, "you can look now."

Tony turned back around, "so what's your name, really?"

"It's Nash," she replied.

"Nash? What the fuck kind of name is that for a girl?" Tony asked.

"When my mother was pregnant," the girl explained, "the doctor told her I had a slow heartbeat, like a boy's, and so she told my 5-year-old brother he was getting a brother and he got to name him, and he picked Nash. Well I came out a girl, but they still named me Nash."

"And your brother, where is he these days?" Tony asked.

Nash hesitated for a minute before answering, "dead, he die."

It wasn't often that Tony expressed sorrow for other peoples' losses, but this time was different, it could be seen in his face. "I'm sorry, what happen to him?"

"Hit and run when he was 12…the driver, he was arrested, went to court...but he got off," Nash explained.

"He make a deal with the judge," Tony assumed.

"No, his lawyer, _he_ made a deal with the judge," Nash told him.

"So what'd he get?" Tony asked.

"2 months probation."

"2 months probation?" Tony repeated, "he fucking murdered a kid and all he got was a probation?"

"Yeah, say 'ello to the wonderful legal system in America," Nash told him.

"Fuck that," Tony said, "me, I got limits, killing menI don't mind so much, but no women and children, ever."

"That's good to know," Nash said, "but this guy didn't do it on purpose."

"Are you sure?" Tony asked.

"Well…" Nash hesitated, "it's what everyone's always said, at least when I'm around, but I dunno…the guy was a rival to my father…and he didn't care for the rest of us either."

Tony made a sound of agreement, "what's this fucker's name?"

Nash thought about it for a minute, "Gene Beatty, but what's it matter now? What's done is done, and nothing can bring my brother back."

"Maybe not, but revenge might ease the pain," Tony thought aloud.

Nash looked at Tony with a weird look on her face. "Are you a hitman now, Montana?"

"Not usually, but...sometimes it goes with the job," Tony told her.

"What job?"

"Can you keep your mouth shut?" Tony asked.

"You kidding?" Nash asked, "where I come from, you snitch, they rip your tongue out and mail it to Australia."

Tony seemed pleased at that idea; "I'll have to try it sometime."

"So what do you do?" Nash asked.

"Importing and exporting yeyo," Tony said.

"What?" Nash asked.

"Yeyo."

"What?" Nash asked.

Tony was getting close to losing his temper, Nash was a cute kid, but she was kind of slow on the way things rolled. So he decided to try and explain again.

"Yeyo," Tony snorted loudly and dabbed at his nose, hoping this time she'd get the point, "you know, yeyo."

"Oh," she replied, "you mean cocaine."

"Yeah," Tony said.

"So why didn't you just say that?"

"You say what you like, I say what I like," Tony replied.

Nash nodded in both agreement and understanding, "I was wondering how you managed to make money like that, that you could afford to throw around."

"Yeah, well, welcome to the American Dream," Tony responded, "as they say, 'the world is yours', you just have to know how to run things."

"So how long have you been running things?" Nash asked.

"A few months…things are going well, I'm getting married, my sister has her own beauty parlor and she doesn't have to work herself to death at 20, she's able to give my mother money from time to time so she doesn't have to work herself to death at a sewing factory, and Manny and I got money coming out of our fucking ears, we can afford anything we want."

"All that after a few months?" Nash asked.

"Yeah, there's big business for it," Tony told her.

"So…you expecting a big wedding?" Nash asked.

"Yes…Gina's a bride's maid, Manny is best man…if you want you can come too," Tony said.

"I don't think that'd be a good idea."

"Sure, I get you a dress and you can be another bride's maid," Tony said.

"If I were to come, I'd have to be in a suit…not a lot of people know I'm a girl and I want to keep it that way."

"And what? You'd rather spend the day working here?" Tony asked.

"Anything beats staying at home," Nash told him.

"So take the day off and come to the wedding, I promise you won't be bored," Tony said.

"I can't," Nash replied, "being a bartender doesn't pay much, but I'm working 3 part time shifts here and I can't afford to miss one."

"They fire you?" Tony asked.

"They dock pay for missing a shift," Nash told him, "and if that happens, I have to listen to my mother nag about how once I turn 18, I'm on my own, so I have to save all the money I can get."

"How old are you?" Tony asked.

"I turn 18 in two months…and it's not something I'm looking forward to," Nash told him.

"They let you work in here so young?" Tony asked.

"I lie about my age, I have to do that to be able to work, nobody wants a young kid who has no experience."

"Fuck that, take the day off, come to my wedding,"

"I can't," Nash said.

"Yes you can, and you wanna know why?" Tony didn't even give her time to guess, "I'm gonna pay you to quit this fucking job, and you make better money with me, and you can move into a good place, not some fucking flea shack."

"No, I can't take your money," Nash replied.

"Why the fuck not?"

"You love that word, don't you?" Nash asked.

"I already told you, I got more money than I know what to do with, and I got fifteen million dollars coming in every month…it's not gonna break me to drop a few thousand your way."

"But why are you helping me?" Nash asked.

"Now _you_ the one forgetting things, you asked me when I got out if I'd get you out too," Tony told her, "I got out, and I'm not doing so bad…so now I gonna help you."

Tony took the money out of his pocket and handed it to Nash, "here, take it."

Nash took the money and counted it and Tony thought she was going to faint. "Shit," she said, "how'd you make that much?"

"I took your tip on 33," Tony said, "I lost some, but I made more…now here, take this, quit your job, get a dress, or a suit…whatever, and come to my wedding, I want you to meet my family."

Nash couldn't take her eyes off the money, for a minute Tony thought it was too big a shock to her system. "Montana, you have no idea how overwhelming it is, to be making honest, small money for years, and all of a sudden have someone drop 14 grand into your hand with no strings attached." Nash's breathing became heavy and she walked over to a bar stool, "I need to sit down, Montana, I don't know what to say."

"Say yes."

Nash laughed a bit, "my head is spinning, I can't believe it…Montana, I've never seen 14,000 dollars in my life before tonight, and you're telling me you're raking in 15 million a month?"

"Give or take."

"This must be what they mean by having your world rocked," Nash said.

"So, will you come to my wedding?" Tony asked.

"What day?"

"Saturday, 3 in the afternoon…I can get you a suit if you want," Tony told her.

Nash laughed pathetically, "I think I better go home and sleep on it…I'm still having trouble believing this is actually happening."

"Good idea, go home and get some sleep…where do you live? I'll take you," Tony told her.

"Oh no, my mother watches for me and if she sees me getting out of a man's car, she's going to take her cooking spatula to me till I can't sit down," Nash explained.

"She's that bad?" Tony asked.

"Don't blame her, she just hasn't been the same since Jason died, I don't know what but when he did, something in her just snapped...but she's my mother, I can't just leave her because of it...but I don't intend to provoke her either, I'll just walk home, it's no problem."

"Where do you live?" Tony repeated.

"Uh…609 Citrus Drive."

"Okay, I'll drop you off on the 500 block," Tony compromised, "and I won't take no for an answer."

"I still don't know why you wanna help me," Nash said.

"Because someone has to, and that someone might as fucking well be me," Tony told her, "now get your things and come on."

Nash went into the next room to gather up her stuff, and Tony made a mental note to remember that name, Gene Beatty.


	2. The Wedding

"What's with you?" Manny asked the next day at a diner they went to for breakfast.

Tony quit drinking his orange juice long enough to ask, "what?" and the weird grin that had been on his face since he picked Manny up had returned.

"There's something wrong with you, you have this dumb grin on your face, what's going on?" Manny asked.

"Nothing," Tony replied.

"You expect me to believe that? Tony, I know you're excited about marrying Elvira, but you look like the cat that swallowed the canary," Manny told him.

"The what?" Tony asked.

"It means you're grinning like you know something," Manny explained.

"I do know something," Tony replied as he went back to his scrambled eggs.

"What's that?" Manny asked.

Tony stabbed his eggs with his fork and practically swallowed the piece whole before replying, "do you remember when we were working as dishwashers, this kid used to come in the diner with packages for the owner?" While he waited for Manny to reply, he went back to his breakfast.

"Yeah, so what?" Manny asked.

"Well," Tony replied as he swallowed a chunk of his eggs, "I saw the same kid last night, working at the Golden Crown."

"So?"

"So, I found out the hard way that that guy is no' a guy, he's a girl," Tony said.

"I still don't get what the big deal is," Manny said.

"Well…I found out something from this kid last night, and I've got a favor to do for her, the best part is that she doesn't know it's going to happen, so she's going to be in for quite a fucking surprise when she finds out," Tony replied.

"That's what you're grinning for?" Manny asked.

"I don't know why I am, its just doing this for her makes me feel giddy…anyway, this is supposed to be a surprise, so nobody's going to know except for us, not Elvie, not Gina, not Ernie, not nobody, you got that?" Tony asked.

"Yeah, but what're you going to do?" Manny asked.

"I'll tell you but first I gotta find a telephone book," Tony told him as he scooted out of the booth.

"Why?" Manny asked.

"Because I have to find a Gene Beatty and make sure he's going to be alone this afternoon," Tony told him.

Tony went out to use the phone booth on the corner, Manny wasn't sure what was going on, but he had a feeling that whatever it was it was going to be bad.

* * *

Tony had told Manny he was going to spend the rest of the afternoon alone, he had to get some things taken care of for the wedding, and one thing he had to do was get a tuxedo. But before he went to get that, he headed over to the 500th block of Citrus Drive and slowed down his car and waited until Nash came into sight. She was walking down the sidewalk and was currently near the top of the hill on which the street was built, so Tony drove his car up to where she was, he put it in neutral and opened the door on the passenger's side.

"Going somewhere?" he asked.

Nash got off the sidewalk and looked in, "is that you, Montana?"

"Call me Tony…can I give you a lift?" he asked.

"Where're you going?" Nash asked as she slipped in and closed the door.

"Gonna get a tuxedo for my wedding, are you coming?"

Nash nodded, "yeah, I thought about it, I'd like to come."

"Good, we be happy to have you," Tony told her, "so, what did you tell your mother?"

"I didn't tell her anything, but I quit at the Golden Crown."

"Good," Tony grinned toothily.

"Now I'm looking for another job," she replied.

"Bad," Tony added as his smile faded, "why you wanna break your back for minimum wage? Didn't you keep the money I gave you?"

"Of course, but that ain't it," Nash said, "it's not so much about the money, I can't just sit around the house all day doing nothing, I have to get out and do something, otherwise I go crazy."

"So what kind of job are you looking for now?" Tony asked.

"Doesn't really matter to me, anything that doesn't require joining the army and nothing where I'd have to take my clothes off, and that's about it," Nash said.

"You know how to drive?" Tony asked.

"Yes."

"Taxi drivers, they make good money if they play their cards right," Tony thought aloud.

"Yeah, but what about when someone tries to rob them?" Nash asked.

"Well what do you do if someone tries to rob the casino?" Tony asked.

"That's different, Tony, in a casino, you have guns and knives and glass bottles and bar stools and tables, all sorts of fucking stuff you can beat someone over the head with, in a cab it ain't that easy."

"You strong?" Tony asked.

"Sure."

"How about professional wrestler? They pay you to beat the shit out of someone," Tony suggested.

"Yeah, but I don't think lightweights do too well," Nash told him.

"What about, night watchman?" Tony asked, "gets you out of the house, all you have to do is wait for something to happen."

"Too boring."

"Oh well, there's a million jobs available, you should be able to find something," Tony said, "something that pays good, gets you out of the house, keeps you on your feet..."

"You know, Tony, I've been hearing some things about you," Nash said.

"Oh?"

"And…from what I've heard, you're like a regular bad ass," Nash said.

"Bad ass?" Tony repeated, he sounded like he was considering it. He repeated it a couple more times, by now he seemed to like the sound of it. "I can live with that, so I'm bad ass, but not regular, Tony Montana is regular nothing."

"Well…you don't seem that way to me, maybe I've just been around low lives too long, but you don't seem nearly as horrible as people say, why do you think that is?" Nash asked.

Tony looked at her and replied, "presentation is important."

"So you're not really as horrible as people say," Nash thought.

"No, I'm as bad as people say, just not with everybody…me, I like kids, and I like women, and you're both."

"Not for long…"

There was a brief silence before Nash asked, "So, how's Manny doing?"

"Good, he's good, he was glad to hear you' doing allright," Tony said.

"He remembers me?" Nash asked.

"Sure he remembers you, later I'm a gonna tell him you' coming to the wedding," Tony said.

"I wish you wouldn't do that, Tony…I like to remain anonymous as much as possible."

"Why? You 'shamed of me?" Tony asked.

"No, I just prefer if people don't know me…besides, what with you being a big drug lord, or whatever the fuck they call you, you got your own enemies, your own problems, you don't need mine too…so I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't tell anyone else you even know me."

"Allright, if that's what you want, that's how it's going to be," Tony replied, "it just be our secret, yours, mine, and Manny's."

"Don't tell him anymore about me either, I don't want him to get involved," Nash told him.

Tony thought about it for a minute, "okay, I won' tell Manny either."

* * *

Tony came out of the dressing room wearing a bright white tuxedo with a top hat to match. "Too much?"

"Yes," Nash told him.

"Okay," Tony said as he took off the hat and threw it away, "so I lose the hat, how's this?"

"No good, white doesn't look good on you, at least not like that," Nash said.

"Eh?" Tony turned around and looked in the mirror.

"It looks like someone poured bleach all over it…you wear that thing at your wedding and Elvie will go blind."

"Allright…"

Tony took the next suit into the dressing room and came back out after a few minutes, this suit had a gray jacket and pants and a white button-up shirt. "How's this?"

"No good, you look like a lawyer, how about the black one?" Nash asked.

"Allright," Tony took the next suit and was about the head into the dressing room when he turned back around. "What about you? Have you tried anything on yet?"

"I was thinking, Tony…I don't really dress up formal-like a lot…and I hate to put you out $200 just for a suit that I'll only wear once."

"You fucking kidding me? The night Lopez died, someone nearly ruined my $800 suit, so I replaced it. $200 is nothing to me, now go find a suit," Tony said, "I'll be back out in a minute."

A few minutes later, Tony came out wearing a black tuxedo with a white button-up shirt and came out. He saw Nash wearing one just like him and she looked terrible in it.

"Do I look that bad?" Tony asked.

"Take a look," Nash pointed to the mirror.

Tony looked and was disgusted with it. "Shit, I look terrible."

Nash went off and returned with a different suit for Tony and he went back in the dressing room and put it on and it seemed to **just** fit him, and he was waiting for Nash's comments when he came out, but she hadn't come out yet. The door to the dressing room next to his opened and Nash came out wearing an off-white suit just like his.

"What do you think?" she asked.

"Looks nice," he said, "and me?"

"Nice…turn around."

Tony turned around and looked in the mirror, this wasn't exactly a white suit. "What do you call this color?"

"Uh…off-white…ivory…maybe crème."

"Crème?" Tony repeated, "they got a coffee color suit too?"

"Now this looks good, Tony, not too bright, but not dark either," Nash told him.

"Well…I've tried on about 10 suits and I'm getting sick of it, and this seems to be the best pick so I'm taking it, what about you? That the suit you want?" Tony asked.

"Sure…anything to get the fuck out of here."

"Now that's more like it," Tony said, "now you' thinking like me…"

"So do you want me to come early?" Nash asked.

"I don't care what time you come, providing you're in time for the wedding…and afterwards, I want to show you the tiger I got."

"A tiger?"

"Yeah, a lady tiger."

"How old?"

"I don't know exactly…old enough to mate, I know that much."

"I definitely want to see that…I'll be there with bells on," Nash told him.

* * *

Friday night, Tony was making sure everything was ready for the wedding the next day when he got a phone call from Manny.

"What is it?" Tony asked.

"I need you to come down to a warehouse on Girard Avenue so you can straighten things out with the owner," Manny said.

"What?" Tony couldn't believe his ears, "I'm getting married in 18 hours, can't this wait?"

"No it can't, I'm trying to reason with the bastard but he won't listen to me, you have to come down tonight," Manny sounded anxious.

For a minute, Tony thought Manny might be in some kind of trouble, but he doubted they'd let him call anyone if he was in a lot. "Allright, I'll be down soon."

Tony got to the address from Manny and was instructed to come in through the back way, and Tony was there within 15 minutes. Of course he wasn't going to go in unarmed and die a fool, so he got out of his car and headed around to the back, carrying an Uzi with him.

Tony reached the back doors and found them unlocked, so Tony kicked the doors in and walked right past the doorway, into complete darkness. He pulled out the Uzi and was ready to fire.

"Allright!" he bellowed, "come out, you whores! Come out now or I track you all down and send you to fucking hell!"

Tony heard loud popping noises and didn't know what the hell was going on, but he knew he wasn't being shot at. At that time, bright overhead lights came on and Tony saw a bunch of women dressed in risqué dresses holding champagne bottle and cone fireworks where strings were pulled to shoot out confetti and streamers. Looking around, Tony also saw standing by 10 kegs of beer, several of the friends he made in his business, with Manny obviously being the brains of the whole thing.

"Glad you could make it, chico," Manny said, "surprised?"

Tony was shocked, he couldn't believe what was going on, but all he knew was that he'd been set up. "What the fuck is this?"

"A bachelor party," Manny said, "for you."

"For me?" Tony still couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"That's right…one last night of fun before your wedding tomorrow."

Well Tony really felt like an idiot now, you could say the expression "color me with egg on my face", or something of the sort, was appropriate to describe how he felt about this whole ordeal. Tony put the Uzi on a table beside him and looked around, he couldn't believe Manny had put this whole thing together.

A woman in a tight blue sequined dress came up to Tony and put her hand on the front of his pants, "Hello big boy, are you just happy to see me or is that a gun in your pocket?"

"Why yes it is," Tony reached into his pocket and pulled out a handgun and showed it to the lady before he put it on the table. The lady took it as a hint to back off so she did.

"What's the matter with you?" Manny asked.

"What the fuck's the matter with you?" Tony asked, "I thought you were in trouble, I thought it was like with Angel."

"If I had told you the real reason for wanting you down here, would you have come?" Manny asked him.

Tony was quiet for a minute and seemed to be considering it when he answered, "No."

Manny let out a satisfied laugh, "Exactly."

"Next time you plan a surprise, warn me ahead of time," Tony advised him, "I hate surprises."

"Since when?" Manny asked.

"Since right now."

Manny laughed, "come on, Tony, this is your last night as a single man, you might as well enjoy it. Believe me, it'll definitely be a night you never forget."

Tony glared at Manny for a minute, and looked around to see just what there was to enjoy. Bright colorful lights, loud music, lots of women in too much makeup and their dresses needed letting out, kegs of beer as far as the eye could see. All in all, there wasn't much of anything he couldn't find at any nightclub in Miami. For a minute, Tony was starting to think Manny was getting more of a kick out of the whole party than he was. A minute later, Tony saw three guys wheeling in a large cake, the kind strippers usually popped out of.

"Oh boy I canno wait to see this," Tony's sarcasm was running on empty.

Two guys lifted the top off the cake, and Manny went over and looked down into it, and he looked at the other two guys like something had gone wrong. They looked over at Tony and motioned for him to come up and see it for himself. Reluctantly, Tony headed over to the cake, wondering what was inside of it, and wondering if he even wanted to find out. Apparently some part of him did because regardless of what he was thinking, he walked right over to the cake, climbed up on the bottom layer and looked down in it.

How fast it happened, Tony didn't know, all he remembered was looking inside of the cake, and an Amazon woman in a leopard skin loincloth jumped out and picked him up and spun him around in the air like a rag doll, while everybody watching cheered and howled.

"What I tell you, chico?" Manny asked, "I told you this going to be a night you're not going to forget."

Tony tried to tell Manny how much he hated him right about now, but he couldn't. The next thing he knew, the woman was leaving with him slung over her shoulder. Tony didn't know exactly where the woman was taking him but he didn't ask any questions and hung onto her for dear life. She took him into a dark room and threw him down on something, he almost swore it was a bed, but right now he wasn't too sure of anything. He heard the door close and the lights came on. Yes, it was a bed, what they called a queen-sized bed, and apparently it was the closest thing to the right size for this woman.

Looking at her, Tony figured she must have been somewhere near seven feet tall, well over his 5'7. In addition to her height, she was full of muscles bulging out from everywhere that wasn't covered in her loincloth. She had more muscles that most men Tony had known, and she'd about have to, to be able to swing Tony around like a toy. And now he was afraid that she planned to use him as a toy of a whole other kind.

"Let me guess," he said, trying to hide the nervousness in his voice, "Manny put you up to this?"

"Your cousin said that you'd never done it with a big woman…he thought it'd be a nice way to go out before your wedding," she said.

"Oh boy," Tony muttered to himself. He looked at the woman and asked her, "What's your name?"

"Christine."

"Ah…well…Christine…" Tony was trying to figure a way out of this mess but his mind draw a blank.

"Don't worry," she said, "everybody's nervous the first time."

"First time in general, or just first time with you?" No sooner had the words left Tony's mouth; he couldn't believe he actually said them. Right about now it looked like if he did anything to set this woman off, she'd probably see to it that he never got around to his wedding night with Elvira.

Christine giggled and leaned in closer to him and grabbed the bottom of his tie and her hand worked its way up. "Is this your first time?"

Tony backed up and got his tie free from her hand, every time she leaned in closer to him he scooted back on the bed trying to think of something to say, and he kept backing up until he hit his back on the iron headboard and fell off the side of the bed.

Christine sprawled out on the bed, lying on her stomach, and she saw Tony Montana lying on his back on the floor with his legs spread up in the air, and she laughed.

"I'm guessing this isn't a first for you," Tony said.

"Well I've had some pretty unusual clients," Christine responded, "want some help up?"

"No, no, I'll be fine," Tony got his legs on the ground and rolled over onto his stomach and stood up. He walked back over to the bed but fell down on the way over. He got up again and gripped the edge of the bed. "Look, I'm sure you're a…you…I'm sure you'd see to it that this is a night I'll never forget…it's already become that…but I can't…I can't…"

"You're too loyal to her," Christine stretched her legs and put her feet on the floor and stood up.

"Huh?"

"The woman you're marrying…you don't want to ruin what you two have by sleeping with someone else…" Christine said, "no problem, I understand."

"So…we have an understanding?" Tony asked.

"Sure…although…we may want to stick around here a few more minutes so you can go out there looking like a big man to all your friends," Christine suggested.

Oh how Tony could just imagine the countless jokes that could come from a comment like that. But he agreed, it wouldn't be a bad idea.

* * *

Saturday came, the afternoon came quickly, it was nearing 3 o' clock and Nash still hadn't shown up, Tony had been waiting for her.

Why didn't she come? he asked himself

But there was a schedule to keep, and Tony didn't want to keep Elvie waiting, so he decided the wedding would just have to go on without her. As he looked around at all the people that had shone up, he realized their wedding was the biggest turnout he'd ever seen. There were members from his family, Elvira's family, Manny, Nick the Pig, Chi-Chi, Ernie, all the acquaintances and friends Tony had made in the business, judges and policemen on his payroll, caterers, florists, old friends and neighbors from back in Cuba, everyone that seemed to have any place in Tony's business and life right about now was there.

Taking one last look, Tony realized, all but one. Maybe, Tony thought, there _was_ a good reason for her anonymity after all, maybe she ran into some bad news and didn't want them following her to the wedding. Whatever the reason might have been, Tony was mildly disappointed that she hadn't come, but then he heard the music playing and he saw Elvie being brought down to be given away, and Tony suddenly realized that this had already become the happiest day of his life, and it didn't really matter too much to him that Nash hadn't shown up.

Tony lifted the veil covering Elvira's face and she was as beautiful as the night he first saw her in the elevator at Frank's. The minister started the regular wedding speech of dearly beloved and what not, but Tony wasn't really listening, all of his attention was solely drawn to Elvira's beautiful eyes. When it was time for the wedding vows, Tony placed the ring on Elvira's finger and said, "I vow to love and honor you with all my heart and…soul…with every fiber…of my being," Tony was really starting to feel like a jackass, but then again this was the first time he'd made a wedding vow, "…until the day I die…"

Saying what he had wasn't easy for Tony, but it seemed to be even harder for Elvira to say anything, so she made hers short, sweet, and to the point. "You're the best thing that's ever happened to me."

That was certainly not something Tony had heard much in his life, actually he wasn't sure if he'd ever heard it before now, even after everything he'd been through in his life, nothing could stop the surprised look that took over Tony's face, which consisted of an uneven smirk, wide eyes and high eyebrows like a woman who'd seen a rat. Tony couldn't remember right off hand if anybody, even his mama, had ever said anything nice like that to him in his entire life. As soon as Elvira said that, Tony was convinced that nothing could ruin his good mood today.

After being pronounced man and wife, Tony took Elvira and all his guests down to the moat of his property, and across from it tied to a tree was his tiger, which Tony was all too willing to boast about. Nick the pig unwrapped a napkin that was covering a piece of the wedding cake, and threw it across the moat for the tiger to eat…it didn't seem too interested.

"It's a beauty, Tony," Gina said, "is it a boy or a girl?"

"Girl…nice…lady tiger…from India," Tony smirked as he glanced at Elvira.

As Tony was explaining to the people around him the how and why he got the tiger, in the back of his mind he knew that the rest of the day was going to be long what with all the people and the reception and all the wedding gifts and the toasts…and of course the wedding night…but he didn't care. This was turning out to be the happiest day of his life. Today, it truly felt to Tony like the world was his. He had it all, or rather most of it, family, good friends, a beautiful wife, his trusty tiger, more money than he knew what to do with, (so Frank was right), people everywhere were coming to know his name. Now it seemed about all he needed now were a couple of kids and he'd have everything.

* * *

Early the next morning, Tony woke up and saw the sun had already come up. Looking over at the clock, he saw it was only 6:25 A.M., and Elvira was still asleep right beside him. In fact, he'd woken up just as he'd fallen asleep, with her in his arms, and he had to admit he liked the way she felt. So far, he'd only been married about 15 hours, but right now it seemed to be the best time of his entire life. Out of nowhere, Tony got the feeling that he should get up and go outside. He didn't know why, and he also wasn't too hot about letting go of Elvie just yet, but the idea hammered at his brain, so against his plans, Tony slipped out of the bed and got dressed and got downstairs and out to the yard before anybody saw him.

For a while, Tony was starting to wonder why he had even come out here, when he could've spent another hour in bed with Elvira, but then he got his answer. Coming up the driveway was Nash, looking to Tony like she was in the CIA or something, wearing a big black trench coat that couldn't possibly be fitted right and black sunglasses, even though it wasn't bright enough to need them. Tony had seen plenty of different types of sunglasses, most of which different lenses were different colors and different tones of color, some lighter than others, some darker than the rest.

The kind that Nash currently had on was what Tony had heard people refer to as hangover glasses, for obvious reasons…but she didn't seem to be hung over. Rather she seemed to know exactly what she was doing as she came up the driveway and walked right over to Tony. For the first time since yesterday afternoon, it registered in Tony's mind that she had missed the wedding, and he was wondering if he was about to find out why.

"Good morning, Nash," he said.

Nash looked at him over her glasses, and seeing those red eyes, Tony remembered the second most common reason for glasses that dark. Judging by the anger that was painfully easy to see in her eyes, Tony was sure that he was about to get yelled at for something he may have or may not have done. Nash got right up to him and looked him dead in the eyes, she backed up a bit so she wouldn't be right in his face when she said what she did. All she got out was 'oh Tony', before she collapsed in his arms crying, even the two words she got out were choked by her sobbing.

Tony held her close and held her up, and he had a good idea that if he didn't, she would've fallen straight to the ground and wouldn't have even bothered getting up. As worn and ragged as she appeared to be, it seemed a good guess to Tony that she wouldn't even have the strength to get herself up. Right away, Tony was trying to think what could've gotten her so upset…he wouldn't think it was something he said, but he could never be sure. It seemed that with some people, Tony was prone to sticking his foot in his mouth.

After a few minutes, Nash seemed to recollect herself and now seemed to be able to pull herself together. She pushed Tony back and stood a good foot and a half away from him. "Tony…" she started, her voice so weak Tony wasn't sure she could continue. "I'm sorry………I'm sorry I didn't come to the wedding, but something came up and I was out yesterday…rather happy at that," she added.

Oh the possibilities of how Tony could've responded to that. One thing he wanted to ask more than most was if she was so happy the day before…then what the hell happened? But he decided not to ask that.

"You did it, didn't you?" Nash asked him, her voice becoming strong and accusing.

Tony was surprised by that, he didn't know how to answer, he tried to think, did what?

"Yesterday, Tony…on the news," Nash said, her voice now firm and demanding no nonsense after she gave her full side of it. "They found Beatty's body down by the docks, the fish had already gotten some work in on him but they found his body, and the coroner said he died from a shot straight through the heart, and one in the head…dammit Tony, you did it, didn't you, you bastard?"

Ordinarily words like that wouldn't be taken likely, but Tony knew that she meant no harm by them. Tony decided to confess, he had no reason to play stupid, he wasn't ashamed by what he did, he just wanted the whole affair to be a surprise and now it was over.

"I jus' couldn't stand it, you know? The man fuckin' killed a 'little kid, and he walked while your mother lost her mind, you…you gotta suffer for it all…dis way, the score's evened out a bit," Tony explained.

Nash didn't say anything for a minute and turned away, Tony thought she was going to leave.

"When my mother turned on the news and we saw it…saw him, his body on a gurney with a sheet thrown over it…only then we knew it was over…and my mother…I never saw her cry after the funeral…but we were both so happy yesterday…relieved it was finally over, truly over…and I…I couldn't leave my mother, and I could come here as I was…it would've ruined everything…that's why I missed the wedding."

Tony couldn't believe that Nash was still trying to apologize for that when there were more important matters to tend to at the time. How could she have been expected to drop all of it to come to a wedding?

"It doesn't matter," Tony said, "how are, you and your mother today?"

"A…allright I suppose," Nash replied, "yesterday, for the first time in a long time, my mother was actually nice to me…now that the day's passed, I'm guessing today won't be any different from the past several years."

"Is not right," Tony said, "you're the only one she has left and she shouldn't treat you like a dog…it's over."

Nash shook her head, "Some things are never over."

Tony rolled up his sleeves and said, "Oh no? Take me back with you, I'll straighten things out all right…it'll be over for sure when I'm through."

"You're not going to hit my mother, Montana," Nash said protectively.

"No?" Tony asked playfully. "No," he repeated seriously after seeing the determined look on Nash's face. That was a look he knew too well from his days back in Cuba, guys used to give him that look when he noticed their sisters. It was a look that with no words required very easily said 'stay away from her or I will hurt you in ways you won't recover'. "I jus' wish there was something I could do to help with her," Tony said.

"Don't worry about it," Nash said, "enough about my life…how was the wedding?"

"Oh it was great, Elvie was beautiful…Gina was a doll…and they…and I…well…come on, I'll show you."

With that, Tony had her by the arm and he was taking her down to the moat, and they went over a small bridge and Tony showed her the tiger.

"She's beautiful…where'd you get her?" Nash asked.

"India."

"What's her name?"

"Diamond."

"She's a real beauty…I'll bet one day she has good looking babies too," Nash said, "speaking of which…you and Elvira still planning to have kids of your own?"

"Of course…and if things between us keep going like last night…then I don't think we'll have to wait long," Tony grinned.

"Yeah well…the day she says she's late, you let me know," Nash told him as they headed back over the bridge.

"Late for what?" Tony asked.

"Pregnant, Tony."

"Oh…"

Nash shook her head, "I can't wait to see you as a father…I can just see it now, as soon as Elvira is through screaming at you and calling you names, you'll probably be running around the hospital shaking everybody's hands and handing out cigars."

Tony laughed at the idea, "you think so?"

Tony turned and looked at Nash and saw a dreamy look in her eyes, as if she really was looking forward to it, but also in her eyes, Tony saw something else, what he'd most likely refer to as pain.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah…I was just thinking, in a few years when I die, at least I can tell my brother that his death was avenged. He'll like that."

"Yeah, I bet he…" then realization hit Tony about something Nash said. A few years?

"I have to get going…I wouldn't want Elvira to look out here and think you're having an affair…or worse, she may think I'm **_your_** kid," Nash told him.

Tony guessed he could wait until later in the day to ask Nash what was going on. "Where are you going to be today?" Tony asked.

"Here…there…nowhere…all around basically," she explained, "why?"

"Later…if I find you, I want to talk to you again," Tony said.

"Sure, Tony…goodbye," Nash turned around and walked down the property, down the driveway, and down the street until finally Tony couldn't see her anymore.

After she was gone, Tony decided to go back to the house before Elvira woke up and found him gone, although the entire time he headed back, one thing stayed in his mind and he couldn't get rid of it. A few years?

Author's note: The scene with the tiger and the wedding cake wasbased on a scenefrom the book, "Scarface", by Paul Monette, based on the movie.


	3. The Day After

At 10 o' clock that day, Tony excused himself from the house and decided to go looking for Nash…ever since she left, something had been bothering him. It was the whole idea of in a few years when she died, what was that supposed to mean? Tony decided the best place to start looking was her home, if she wasn't there, he could always ask her mother. Of course, if she was the horror that Nash described, Tony decided he needed what could pass for a legitimate reason to be looking for her daughter. He'd written down her address after taking her home from the Golden Crown, 609 Citrus Drive. Tony changed into a Hawaiian shirt and a pair of khaki pants and stuffed a few hundred dollars into his pocket and decided he'd make up the story on the way over.

* * *

Tony rang the bell a couple of times and waited. Looking around at the place, which consisted of no grass, a couple of near dead rose bushes up by the house, a wooden fence around the yard with the paint chipped off and the door piece broken, no car to be found anywhere on or near the property, a few trees, most of which were dead, the paint chipping off of the house, the porch light glass shattered, a yard lantern with the glass busted and a bird's nest in it, the mailbox hanging to one side, and a rickety swing porch dangling from rusted chains, Tony very quickly came to the conclusion that they needed the money more than Nash was letting on.

The door opened and Tony turned around and saw who he guessed was Nash's mother. The woman was a couple inches shorter than Tony, she had her short brown hair done up like a home-job perm and she was wearing a dress which could've passed for a bunch of different rags stitched together, and an apron which covered most of the dress's front, and she was barefoot. In some way, she reminded him of his mama.

"Good morning, ma'am, I'm…"

"Let me save you the trouble," the lady said, "I'm no friend to the Watchtower, I don't buy raffle tickets, I have a vacuum cleaner, I haven't seen anything out of the ordinary, no suspicious looking people, no loose animals. I don't subscribe to magazines, I don't need any special cleaning solutions, I don't wear Avon, my husband has been dead for 3 years and I have him above my mantel…none of my mail has been stolen, I don't have a dog so I know he's not missing, we don't have a car so my daughter doesn't have to pay for any dents in yours, and I've already been saved, good day."

Tony was speechless that this woman could say all that in one breath. As she was closing the door he took a step forward, "No, miss…that's not why I'm here."

The woman opened the door again, "well then what is it?"

"It's about your daughter, is she home?" Tony asked.

The woman squinted her eyes at Tony, as if she was trying to recall seeing him from somewhere before. "You're not from around here, and you're nobody I know, so what business do you have with my daughter?"

"I work with her at th' Golden Crown," Tony said, "and our boss…he found ou' that he'd been underpaying some of his employees…and Nash is one of them…so he asked me to give her the extra pay…because if she were to get it from him personally, she'd assume there's a catch, you know?"

"Yes I know," the woman replied as she looked Tony over, "how much money are we talking, mister?"

Tony held out three one-hundred dollar bills and one fifty for her to see, "oh abou' that much."

The woman looked at the money as if she couldn't believe it, or rather, like she was scrutinizing every detail she could see, questioning if it was real. She looked back up at Tony with eyes that assumed a string attached to the story. "What's the catch?"

"No catch," Tony replied.

"Give me a break, nobody makes that kind of extra working in a bar…who's she sleeping with?" she asked.

"No one…nobody…look, Miss…"

"_Mrs._ Owen."

"Mrs. Owen," Tony repeated, "the Golden Crown is not just a bar, it's a casino…and d'ere's big money in casinos…well we' making more because business has really picked up…so, a bigger share is divided between the workers…das all."

"That's all," Mrs. Owens repeated. She looked Tony over once again, "well, you don't look like the type who'll gut us like fish. I guess I can take your word for it."

Tony lightly chuckled; he couldn't believe this woman was the same one Nash told him about. Either Nash was wont to exaggerate, or Beatty's death really had changed her for the better.

"Look," Mrs. Owens said, "Mister…"

"Cagney," Tony replied. After he said it he thought 'Cagney? Where'd that come from?'

"Mr. Cagney," Mrs. Owens said, "my daughter's been scrimping and saving and working her fingers to the bone so she can afford a nice place when she turns 18…she doesn't accept charity, and if she were to come home and find that money on the table, she'd never believe it didn't come from me. So…you find my daughter and you give it to her."

"Do you know where she might happen to be?" Tony asked.

"Well…it's Sunday, and it's still early…you might try the church…"

"Which church?" Tony hoped he'd be able to even find the church, it'd been many, many years since he'd set foot in one.

"The Baptist church over near the garden nursery, you know the place?" Mrs. Owens asked.

Tony thought for a minute, had he seen a garden nursery in town? Yes, he nodded, "yes."

"If you don't find her there…check the Christian church over across from the police station…and if she's not there…odds are she skipped church this week," Mrs. Owens said.

"Where would she go then?" Tony asked.

"Oh…the classic theater…the pool hall…the thrift shop…if not there, you can usually find her at a small store down next to the dry cleaners…she usually goes down there to hassle the store workers and try to scare away the customers," Mrs. Owens explained.

"Thank you, ma'am," Tony began to turn to leave when she stopped him.

"Mister Cagney, you seem to like my daughter, am I right?"

"Oh…well…" Tony tried to think of a response but came up with nothing.

"I'm guessing by now she's given you the horror story of what an awful mother I am," she weakly laughed, "all that's missing is the warts and broom, huh?"

"Oh no, she…"

"I'll admit, I've been going down her throat for quite a while now where men are concerned…but you…you seem to be allright."

"Oh thank you," Tony blushed, this was not the conversation he'd expected to have today.

"Look…I know it ain't none of my business, but you like my daughter, right?"

Tony laughed nervously, "very much I'm afraid…she grew on me like warts…she's…she's different from other ladies…"

"Oh? How's that?" Mrs. Owens asked.

"She demands respect…she's not like these floozies we see every night…she say 'if you wanna see _anything_, **first** I'm gonna have to see a ring on m' finger, and a residence in Myrtle Beach for my mother'," Tony said.

Mrs. Owens laughed, "That's my daughter allright…and you still like her?"

"Very much…"

"Well look, you like her and Lord knows my daughter deserves a good day off here and there as hard as she works. When you find her, you treat the two of you to a day off…believe me, with that kind of extra money, she'll feel like the world's hers for the day," Mrs. Owens told him.

"Thank you, Mrs. Owens, I will," Tony said, "good day."

Tony was about to leave when he got another idea, he turned back around to Mrs. Owens, and took another fifty out of his pocket. "Mrs. Owens, I like your daughter…and I also like you…" Tony tried to think of another excuse that she'd believe. "I work at a higher position than your daughter, therefore am entitled to a bigger cut of the money…certainly more than I need to be comfortable…" Tony gave the fifty to Mrs. Owens, "you take that…and get yourself a nice dress…nex' time I come 'round here, I want to see you looky like Julie Christie."

Now Mrs. Owens was blushing. "Oh…thank you…I don't know what to say…"

"Say yes," Tony said, "No-body likes a frumpy little girl in rags."

After that, Tony left and decided to take her advice and start searching the churches.

* * *

Two hours later, Tony was dead on his feet, he'd gone to both churches and spent his entire time in both places falling into pew after pew after pew, searching every seat in every row of both churches, only to be hit by every woman's purse, poked in the eyes by their awful hats, then when he fell on the floor in between each pew, he met the sharp heels to their shoes, and all the trouble he caused was even enough to get the preachers complaining, all to find Nash wasn't there. Now, he was going to take a small break before he started looking again, he'd decided. So, Tony laid himself out on a bench on the sidewalk and was going to take a catnap when he saw Nash walk right on by him.

The shock from that made him fall off the bench, onto the hard sidewalk, then he got up and ran right behind her and he snatched her up and took her to a back alley with one hand clamped tightly over her mouth so she couldn't scream, although she made up for it by kicking him. By the time he got her there, even him muffling any noise she made didn't hide the fact that she sounded terrified, and he could tell he'd obviously put her through a lot, so he put her down and before she could start screaming, he stayed behind her and tried to calm her down. He talked soothingly to her as best as he could and rubbed her back gently as he listened to her ragged breathing…almost hyperventilating.

"Shhhhhh…shhhhhh…Nash, it's allright, it's jus' me, Tony…I sorry I had to do this kiddo, but I had to be sure you wouldn't run away…are you allright now?"

Nash nodded, her breathing had calmed down a bit, so Tony took the risk of taking his hand off her mouth. She turned around and about collapsed in his arms, "Oh Tony!" she groaned, "don't ever do that to me again!"

"I'm sorry, kid…" Tony said, "but I've been looking for you for 2 hours, and I couldn't find you anywhere…an' den I saw you go right by me…I didn't want to lose you and do that again today."

"Tony," Nash gasped, "I know you didn't mean anything…just don't do it again."

Nash sounded like she wasn't better, and Tony could almost swear she sounded close to crying. He drew her into a protective embrace and asked her, "Nash, what's wrong?"

Nash just shook her head and buried her face in his chest. Now Tony was worried that something had happened to her since he'd seen her this morning.

"Nash, what's wrong?" he repeated, "what happen? Did somebody try to grab you?"

"No…" she replied, so quietly he almost didn't hear it.

"Well then what happened? What's wrong?" Tony asked.

"You…you just scared me," she said.

Tony tightened his hold on her and held her closer, "I'm sorry, Nash…I didn't mean to upset you…"

After a couple minutes, Nash seemed to calm down and she pushed Tony away from her. "I'm sorry, Tony…I guess I still can't believe that Beatty's dead…for a minute I thought he was the one who…" she shook her head, "never mind…did Elvie find out I came to see you?"

"No," Tony replied, "nobody knows…I jes…I wanted to see you…is there a place we can go to be alone?"

"Sure, but first I have to stop by the drugstore," Nash told him.

Tony escorted her over to the drugstore on the next block and she picked up a bottle of antacids, then they headed over to the movie theater that showed older movies, and they went to the room showing "Arsenic and Old Lace", they were the only ones there so Tony figured it was a perfect place to talk.

"Nash," he started, "one of the main reasons I wanted to talk to you is because I been thinking of something you told me earlier today before you left."

"What's that?" Nash asked.

"'You said 'in a few years' when you see your brother…you' brother that died?" Tony wanted to make sure he'd heard right.

Nash nodded, "that's right, I've only had one brother."

"Well…what I want to know is what you mean by that… 'in a few years', but you're still young, you're only 17."

"Yeah well…" Nash was starting to sound bitter, "the doctors aren't giving me past 21 to live."

Tony was sure he'd heard wrong, "What?"

"See…after my brother died…my mother took me to the doctors a lot to make sure nothing was wrong with me…she didn't want to lose me too…and the doctors ran about a hundred tests on me…and they've said I won't live past the age of 21…they won't say what's wrong with me, and they won't say if it's something anyone else has, or if there's a cure, or even a name for it. They don't _know_ what's wrong with me…so I figure there's a 50 chance they're right…and if they are, in four years, I'm plant food."

Tony was awestruck, here was a child who could be facing death, and she seemed fine. "And you're not scared?" he asked.

Tony couldn't get her to look at him when she answered that, "A bit…I mean, I've always had plans for what I want to do…but…"

"What do those doctors say now?" Tony asked.

Now Nash could bear to look at him again, "I quit going to them…I figured they don't know what's wrong with me, if anything…and if they keep running tests on me, I might get something because of them."

Tony could feel his blood boiling, he hadn't been fuming like this since he found out Frank Lopez tried to have him bumped off. The very idea of doctors, people who were supposed to heal people, playing with a child's life, made him want to puke. But he restrained himself from going off the deep end and saying what he really wanted to.

"And that's another reason why you're not going to be working yourself to death anymore," Tony told her, "IF those fucking maricons are telling the truth…you're not going to waste your last few years breaking your back at hard work…"

"I still…I don't know why you want to help me so much…I mean Tony, I'm never going to be able to pay you back for anything you do."

"I'm not expecting you to," Tony told her, "'is a gift."

"Gift? You call $14,000 a gift?" Nash asked, "and you plan to slip me more?"

"$15,000 every month, believe me, kid…on you, I can afford it," Tony said.

"Why?"

"Because when you were younger, you asked me to help get you out of this hellhole," Tony explained.

"But you turned me down," she said.

"So I change' my mind…I can do it if I want to."

"I know, but…"

"But nothin'…I'm not going to take no for an answer, you understan'?" Tony asked.

Nash nodded, "sure."

"Good, after lunch, we' go looking for a new home for you, that way you and your mother can both have some space."

Nash nodded, "that would be good."

* * *

Tony took Nash to a restaurant that was notorious for having more of seafood than anything: lobster tails, shrimps of all sizes, crab legs, codfish, crab claws, catfish, scrod, and Tony soon found out Nash was no novice to it. While he found himself content with a 6-pound lobster, Nash helped herself to five of the largest shrimps the restaurant had, six claws, two legs, and a tail.

"Don't you get enough to eat at home?" Tony asked.

"Enough to get through the day," Nash said, "but sometimes even that doesn't seem enough. You know?"

"Sure, I know…I remember back when Manny and I were on the boat coming over here…'t was not a pleasant trip. Manny was seasick all night, he wished he was back in one o' th' cages in Cuba, he said at least there he had bugs to eat. I told him once we got to America, we'd be having steaks 4 inches thick…that didn't help him too much."

Nash laughed, "I wouldn't think so."

"Waiter!" Tony bellowed, the sudden lift in his voice gave everyone in the room a shock.

A waiter came up to their table, ready to take another order.

"How much for a bottle of champagne?" Tony asked, "best stuff you got in th' joint."

"$400, sir," the waiter said before catching that he'd neglected something. He looked at Nash oddly, and Nash and Tony knew that they didn't serve alcohol to tables with minors. The waiter asked, "Is your son old enough to drink, sir?"

Tony and Nash tried to keep a straight face through that one. Son?

"No," Tony said, unable to keep from laughing, "But my brother is, ain't that right, Bobby?"

"It sho' is, Anthony," Nash howled with laughter.

After the waiter left, they calmed themselves down. "Son?" Tony asked.

"I told you, Tony…people think I'm a guy, I have more advantages that way, I'm going to let them think I'm a guy," Nash said.

"Yeah, but son?" Tony asked, "we don't even look anything alike."

"So what? You think people can tell Marlon and Miko Brando are related just by looking at them?" Nash asked him.

Tony laughed, he reached into his shirt and pulled out a couple of cigars, he put one in his mouth and offered the other to Nash who took it but just held it.

"You know what," Tony said as he lit up, "I think you an' me are gonna get along jus' fine."

"I hope so, considering all the time and money you're blowing on me, I'd hate for it to be for nothing."

Tony puffed out a perfect ring. "You jus' wait, we get through here, 'den we go looking for a house for you."

The waiter came back with a bottle of champagne, and Tony insisted on paying him then and there.

"$400," Tony sneered, "I spit on $400…here…" Tony took a wad of bills out of his pocket, flipped off four and handed them to the waiter, as he turned around, Tony said, "come back here!" flipped off another and handed it to the waiter for a tip, "here's a presiden' you don't take home everyday."

Nash removed the cork and poured them two flutes full, Tony had no problem with his glass, but Nash attempted to take it all down at once, and ending up coughing most of it up. "For four hundred bucks, you'd think you could get something better than this. Taste it, Tony, it's awful."

Tony took a sip of what hadn't been taken and returned to her flute, but found nothing wrong with it. "Tastes fine to me…" then a thought occurred to Tony, "have you had champagne before?"

"Evidently not this kind," she replied.

Nash started coughing up a storm; she took out the bottle of antacids and helped herself to a couple of them.

"You okay?" Tony asked once she'd quieted down.

"That's my heartburn, it always does that," she explained, "the minute I get it, I might as well be choking."

That was something Tony hadn't heard of before, he wondered if it was associated with whatever she had that the doctors estimated her another 4 years, but he said nothing about it.

* * *

After lunch, Tony took Nash out to see some houses that were for sale.

"What should we get?" Tony asked.

"Something nice," Nash replied.

"Yeah, something nice, not some shack infested with rats and cock-o-roaches," Tony added, "maybe something fancy."

"But certainly nothing like your home."

"What's wrong with my home?" Tony asked.

"Too big a house and too much property for one person, and very expensive to boot," Nash explained.

"Okay, something reasonable…3 bedroom?"

"You plan to come over?" Nash asked.

"Sure."

"Maybe more, then," she said.

"Five?"

"And how many baths?"

"Two?" Tony asked.

"How many floors?" Nash asked.

"What're you asking me that for?" Tony asked, "it's gonna be your house, you decide what you want…I'll get it."

"You don't have to, I could probably get a good place with just the money you gave me last night," Nash tried to reason with him.

"No, I'll get the house…you take that money, open an account, make some investments, buy some stocks, get a car, some animals maybe, I don't care, but you're not paying for the house."

"Chico, are you out of your crazy mind?" Nash asked, "$15,000 a month isn't enough? You want to pay for my house too? Why? Why would you want to do that, Tony?"

"Because you need help, and I'll give it to you…I'll buy the house, you pick out the stuff to put in it. Also because, we're a growing business making more money, more money that the bank won't take, unless I pay them more to keep more there…right about now, I think a little excess money is safer with you than any bank. No questions asked."

Nash thought about it for a minute, it was true, with her there were no questions asked about where his money was coming from. And, to a guy who was making several million a month, probably wouldn't mind shelling out a few thousand for a house. All the same, she wasn't sure it was a good idea all the way, but she said nothing.

The first house was a 2 story piece with 2 bedrooms and 1 bath, no attic, narrow warped steps on the porches, in the hall, on the fire escape, and a small yard with concrete hard dirt, and dead grass for the price of $6,000. Tony said you couldn't even pay the cock-o-roaches to live in that place. The next was 1 story, 3 bedrooms, 1 bath, no stairs, and a yard full of motors, carburetors and air conditioners, $5500. A third, 2 stories with an attic, 3 bedrooms and one bathroom on the top floor, 2 bedrooms and a bathroom on the first floor, a small but live yard, two big steps on the front porch, no steps but one long drop onto the back porch, $7500. They came across several other houses like that, and three hours later they were ready to give up for the day, when they found one that looked rather promising.

The property alone which the house sat on could very well make up one block, which would equal six whole individual properties, and what there was to the dirt was either covered in live grass and trees and such, or waiting for something else to be planted. The house had three stories, not including the attic, enough room to have at least 15 bedrooms, there were 8 bathrooms, walk-in closets, room for everything and everyone that Nash could think of, and then some. The house would cost $22,000.

Nash was awestruck by how much it cost, considering the seller was anxious to sell it so he could get out of town and state. But Tony was thinking otherwise. "22 thousand? Sounds a little low…what's wrong with it?" Tony asked.

"Nothing," the man replied.

"No, huh? Then why' you selling so cheap?" Tony asked.

"As I said, I'm fed up with Miami and I'd like to get out of here so I can go see my family, but I have to sell the house first...I'm not an unreasonable man, Mr. Montana."

"No, not unreasonable," Tony agreed, "but when you put up a price of 22 thousand for a house that should be going for 35, that says something must be wrong with the joint."

"Are you in real estate, Mr. Montana?" he asked.

"You could say that," Tony replied.

"Well…you probably know better about decent prices for houses than I do, but I don't want to ask for anymore than is fair for you."

"Are you sure there's nothing wrong with the place?" Tony asked, "nobody die here, did they? There aren't any…bodies under the floorboards, or up the chimney, are there?"

"Oh my, no," the man said.

"The roof leak? The…foundation infested? The floorboards, are they sturdy? How bout those stairs? I don't need to be falling through those, I tell you that," Tony said.

* * *

It took about an hour of checking out the whole place, but Tony was finally convinced the house wasn't a rip-off job. He promised to be by tomorrow with the money for the place, as he and Nash got to his car, Nash had one thing to ask him.

"22 thousand, are you crazy, Tony?" she asked.

"I know, that cockroach doesn't know what he's losing, but he wouldn't take anymore," Tony said. He could see that that wasn't what Nash meant. "What's the matter?"

"I thought we could find a place that only cost 9, 10 thousand at the most, but 22?"

"Don't worry about it, 22 is nothing compared to how much it should've cost, besides, you ain't gonna be spending the rest of your days in some cheap dump. You might as well enjoy it, before the end of the month, you' gonna live there, you get to decide what to do with the place. I mean…what do you want?"

Nash didn't say anything at first and Tony wasn't sure what to make of it, then he heard her say, "I'd put a swimming pool in the side yard."

Tony glanced over at her, "that's a good idea, nice place to start."

"And…I'd put more trees on the place…more shade, less room for the neighbors to look in."

"Oh," Tony smirked, "incase you decide to do some nude sunbathing, huh?"

The very idea had both of them laughing for a long time, once they'd calmed down, Nash replied, "Nobody would want to look at that, they'd go blind."

Tony didn't comment, he was sure there was something to be said about her body, but he wasn't going to look long enough to find out. "Maybe put in a garden, too?"

"I thought about that," Nash said, "it'd be nice…I mean think about it, the supermarkets, they charge you $2 a pound for stuff that's thin and wrinkled and rubbery, I could probably grow it all myself for nothing, and then I'd have it for when everything's out of season."

"Hey," Tony decided to change the subject, "when's your birthday? A couple months, right?"

"Oh Tony, don't tell me you plan on getting me something after everything you've already done."

"Sure, why not?" Tony asked, "I come and drop in on you…give you a little surprise…when is it?"

"September 28th," Nash didn't look at Tony as she answered.

"What?" Tony asked, "this is just January."

"I lied…nobody wants to know about a young kid doing something, I managed to get in telling everybody I'll be 18 in 2 months, but the truth of it is I'm just 17 by two months."

Tony wasn't sure what, but he felt something come over him and he slammed on the brake and they came to a sudden stop.

"What is it?" Nash asked.

"How long were you working there, at th' Golden Crown?" Tony asked.

"What's it matter now?" Nash asked.

"Longer than 2 months, no doubt…16 and you work in a fuckin' place like dat?" Tony asked.

"Well what were you doing at 16? I don't think you were exactly leading the life of a saint yourself," Nash said.

Tony gave her a sad smile before looking away, he seemed to be somewhere between laughing to himself, and kicking himself.

"I'm no hypocrite," he said, "I wasn't working in a sleaze bag like that."

"Well where were you?" she asked.

Tony sighed before answering, he turned so she could see the two scars on the left side of his face. "You see these?"

"Yeah."

"I got them at 16…spent 2 weeks in the hospital waiting for…the swelling in my eye to go down…nobody questioned what happened…none of the other boys ever…bothered me again after that."

Nash looked them over as if she was trying to find something there. "How'd you get them?"

"I was selling drugs to people, one of my repeated customers was this beautiful woman…one day she took me back to her house…"

"And?"

"And there was no time for being a virgin," Tony said.

"How long did that last?"

"A short while…then her husband found us in the bathroom on the floor one day. He was a soldier…she got away, he chase me down the stairs with this big razor. I thought he was going to castrate me…so I protected them, and instead, he cut up my face."

He half expected Nash to have a horrified look on her face when he finished telling her, but she just seemed to be listening and waiting patiently, waiting until he was finished before she judged.

"And after you got out of the hospital, what'd you do?" Nash asked.

She was smart, Tony could see that, she knew he wouldn't just leave it at that. "Well, I go out and I buy a handgun and a sawed off shotgun, and I blow the fucker's head off. End of story."

"And you really think what I did at 16 is worse?" Nash asked.

"I didn't say that, I jus' cannot believe you'd work there, being as young as you are."

"There weren't a lot of choices for me," Nash told him.

"I know, and I don' want to see you get into it again, that's why I'm helping you," Tony said.

"Like Gina…"

"What?" Tony asked.

"You don't want Gina getting mixed up with guys like you're in the business with, and you don't want me in a business that could very well lead to a business like yours, knowing full well what kind of people are in it. Ain't that about right?"

Tony laughed, "yeah…I guess it is…in this business, most people are like de' scum on the bottom o' your shoe."

"But not you," Nash said.

Tony didn't answer.

"Come on, Tony, you're not like the rest and you know it…otherwise…Frank Lopez probably wouldn't be dead, and you wouldn't be married to his woman," Nash said.

"True…" Tony replied, "…listen, why don't we…" Tony turned to face her and saw Nash with her hands over her temples and she was moaning and squirming. "What's the matter?"

Tony wasn't sure he'd be able to make out anything over her moaning, but she managed to tell him, "my head…is killing me…"

"You wan' I should take you home?" Tony asked.

"Don't do that," Nash said, "please, Tony, don't…"

"What's the matter?" Tony asked.

Nash shook her head, "I can't go home like this, Tony, I just can't."

Tony was tempted to take Nash back to his house, but she seemed dead set against having anyone else know he knew her, so he scratched that idea, so he drove around looking for a place to take her for the night. He found just the place, a quaint little hotel that didn't look too likely to be the place for an assassin of some big shot, but far better than the roach motel standards. As he got to the parking lot he saw that Nash had fallen asleep, or at least tried to. He placed his hand on her shoulder to get her attention, and it did, but not like he'd figured. Nash shot up in her seat and looked like she was going to go into convulsions. Tony grabbed her by both shoulders to hold her still.

"It's only me, Nash, calm down! Nobody is going to hurt you."

Nash calmed down but Tony saw something in her eyes that strongly resembled a mixture of pain and fear. "I…I'm sorry, Tony, I just…I didn't…"

But Tony was sure he knew what she was trying to say, he gently squeezed her shoulder as he responded, "It's okay…I understan'…you were asleep and I surprise' you."

"More than you know," Nash said as she looked at their surroundings, "where are we?"

"Uh…" Tony tried to read the sign for the hotel beyond the glare from all the lights on the sign, "the New Horizons hotel…come on."

"What're we doing here?" she asked.

"Come on, it's allright…I don't bite."

"But Tony…"

Tony had a good guess on why Nash was hesitating, so he decided to straighten everything out. "Look Nash, you don' want to go home, you won' let me take you to my home, so I'm bringing you here…we'll get a room, you can get something to eat, a place to sleep…maybe a couple o' aspirin…it'll be allright, come on."

Tony slipped out of his side of the car, went around and got Nash out and took her into the hotel. When they got to the lobby, Tony moved Nash over to the couch while he got them checked in.

"Checking in?" the clerk asked.

"Yeah…can you get my son and me a room for the night? Two beds, full night."

"Your son?" the clerk asked.

Tony pointed over to Nash. "Over there on th' couch, he don't feel so good…jet lag…so I would appreciate if you didn't bother him too much."

* * *

They got a room on the second floor, and once they got up there, they found out that it was well worth the money he had to shell out. Two double beds, vibration optional, a nice view of the southern exposure from the balcony, TV, radio, a miniature fridge, an ice machine right out in the hall, a large bathroom with a shower, a marble bathtub, a fiberglass sink, a fully stocked medicine cabinet, and much to Tony's liking, a mini-bar. While Nash fished through the medicine cabinet to find some painkillers for her headache, Tony called for room service and helped himself to a couple of beers from the bar.

"You like roast beef and potatoes?" Tony asked.

"What kind of potatoes."

"Uh…Idaho."

"Baked, mashed, or scalloped?"

"Mashed."

"With gravy?"

"Yes."

"Sounds great."

"Good, they'll bring it up in a few minutes," Tony said.

Nash just nodded and laid down on one of the beds and tried to rest. Tony went over to the bed and sat at the foot of it, the added weight woke Nash up again.

"Why didn't you want to go home?" Tony asked.

"My mother doesn't take my headaches very likely," Nash said.

"She think you're making them up?" Tony asked.

"I don't know…but I don't want to go through it again…do you understand, Tony?" she asked.

"Sure…I'll call her later and tell her you'll be home tomorrow."

"You know my mother?" Nash asked.

"I spoke with her earlier today when I was tryin' to find you…she got the impression that we were going out on a date."

"Oh God," Nash turned over and muffled her laughing in the pillows.

"She don't think we're sleeping together…I didn't tell her we were," Tony assured her.

"Good," she sighed.

She was trying to go to sleep again. "Hey," Tony said, "try to stay awake, the food's gonna be up here soon…then you can sleep, allright?"

"Okay, Tony," Nash turned back onto her back and tried to keep her eyes closed regardless.

"You get these headaches often?" Tony asked.

"Sometimes," was the barely audible response.

"How bad are they?"

Nash just moaned in response.

"That bad, huh?" Tony asked, "is this connected with everything else?"

"Probably…"

"I'm sorry, kid."

"It's not your fault," Nash groaned.

"'Is not right, no 17 year old should have to go through 'dis shit," Tony said, "if I could get a doctor up here, I…"

But he could tell Nash was in too much pain to pay too much attention.

"Oh well…you'll get better soon," Tony told her.

She didn't respond to that either. A few minutes later, there was a knock at the door.

"Who is it?" Tony asked.

"Room service."

Tony opened the door and a hotel employee rolled in a food cart with two plates on a tray, both covered by silver lids. Tony lifted the lids and liked what he saw, so he put the plates on the table, gave the guy a tip and closed the door again. "You feel up to eating?" he asked.

"Sure," Nash replied.

Nash slowly got herself up from the bed and over to the table, but once she sat down, she looked at the food like it made her sick.

"Is something wrong?" Tony asked.

"No…"

"Come on…I know it's not the best…sure, the potatoes have a few lumps, and the roast beef is extra chewy, but it's better than nothing…now…are you gonna eat, or do I have to feed you?" Tony asked.

Nash looked up at him, "you can't be serious."

"Sure I am."

Nash obviously didn't care for that, Tony saw, so she fed herself. No surprise, it worked like a charm every time. Although, the last time Tony had to do that was when he was 15 and Gina was 5, and had gotten to a point in her life where she didn't want to eat. The last time before that, he was 12 and Manny was 10 and quit eating after being sick. Looking back, Tony thought it was funny how he seemed to have that way with kids.

After dinner, Nash went back to the bed and went to sleep, Tony went to the phone and first called home.

"Hello? Hello, Elvie? Elvie? Oh, hi Manny…where's Elvie? Oh she has? No, no…I jus' wanted to say I probably won't be home till tomorrow…something' come up…no I'm not in trouble…yes, Manny…tell Gina if she calls, allright? Okay, goodbye."

Tony disconnected the call and when he heard the dial tone again he dialed another number.

"Hello, Mrs. Owens? It's Antonio Cagney, how are you? Oh, good, I can't complain…actually she's with me. Yes…well my car broke down, an' we can't get anyone to look at it until morning, so…we're staying at New Horizons until then…she…she's right here with me…she hurt her foot on the way, now she can't walk too good…No…I'll bring her home firs' thing tomorrow. Yes…okay, goodbye."

Tony hung up and went back to the bar and got out a scotch. Looking around the room, it seemed very familiar…it reminded him of the night after Angel died. After the others had all gone to sleep, he stayed up, thinking about Angel, how much he'd looked up to Tony, and how if it weren't for Tony, he'd still be alive. Tony couldn't stop himself from crying then, and he couldn't now as the pain of the memory came back.

_I miss you, Angel, I really do…if I had it to do over, you'd still be here…_

Tony took a swig of the scotch and went over to the other bed and settled down there, hoping for either intoxication or unconsciousness to take over as he continued to mourn the loss of his good friend, and wondered how many more he would lose in this business. It didn't matter, he was too far into it to get out now, he and Manny and all the rest, whatever happened from here on out, they would just have to do whatever it took to survive. Tony couldn't survive another senseless killing of someone he cared about, he couldn't live through another Angel.

Author's notes and disclaimers: The origin of Tony's scars, the story of Tony and Manny's trip on the boat to America, and the aftermath of Angel's death all originatedfrom the book, Scarface, written by Paul Monette. Don't own so don't sue.


	4. Wild Night

Nash woke up when she heard Tony, what exactly he was doing at the time, she didn't know, but she intended to find out. She opened her eyes and sat up in bed, and she saw Tony over on the other bed, swaying from side to side, muttering something to himself with a bottle in his hands, and it seemed that he didn't even notice her.

"Tony," she said, "are you allright?"

Tony turned and looked at her, and she could tell he was way past drunk, maybe even high. Who was she kidding? His current condition could be described as higher than a kite.

"Fine, jus' fine, an' you?" Tony's words were slurred, "how' you?"

Nash slowly nodded, "I'm fine…I'm feeling better actually."

"Good, now how 'bout we have a little drink?" Tony asked.

Nash eyed the bottle, it was wine, and wine she was no novice to, so she figured it would be allright.

"Okay, but not too much, it doesn't mix with me too well," Nash told him.

Tony picked up a champagne flute from the nightstand and poured it full and handed it to Nash, then he poured another two and kept them to himself.

"Are you normally a two fisted drinker, Montana?" she asked.

"Sometimes," Tony replied as he downed the first one.

Nash also took into account the empty scotch bottle on the floor beside the bed. "How many drinks have you had?"

"More 'n a couple," Tony responded, "come on, loosen up…relax…enjoy you'self kid, these are the best years of your life."

"These are the last years of my life," Nash replied.

"An' they' going to be the best," Tony said as he poured another glass, "I see to that personally…drink up."

After Nash had had 3 glasses, and Tony had too many for either to keep count of, they both found themselves sprawled out on opposite ends of the bed, looking up at the ceiling fan and laughing.

"That was good, Tony," Nash said, "that was very good."

"Yeah…dis is the life," Tony added, "we' have everything we want…you, you going to get a mansion, and your own peoples…and me, I got a wife…a' angel for a sister, an' soon there might be a little bebe on the way."

"That would be nice," came the tired reply from Nash.

Tony looked over and saw she'd turned over so she wasn't facing him, she looked to be asleep but he wasn't sure. If he'd been sober, he probably would've known better, but he touched her on the shoulder and she jerked up and was shaking and mumbling something incoherent.

"Nash?"

"Don't do it, Tony…don't touch me!"

"I'm sorry, I thought…"

"Don't touch me!"

Tony might have been intoxicated, but he wasn't an idiot, he knew that there was a reason why Lorraine didn't want him touching her. It was because someone had tried to (and either succeeded or failed) in doing so before.

"Nash…who did this to you?" Tony asked.

"What?"

"Who hurt you?" Tony asked, "Tell me that…who, who touched you?"

"Nobody…no one."

"They tried, they always try…what did they do to you?" he demanded to know.

"Nobody did anything, just don't touch me," she was begging with him, almost crying.

"Allright…I won't…'is allright, Nash…you're safe here with me…you know that, don't you?"

Nash nodded, but Tony wasn't sure she believed him.

"Anyone who thinks they can mess with you," Tony said, "they're taking me on first."

"I believe you, Tony," she told him.

"Good."

"Tony?"

"Huh?"

"Can I ask you a favor?"

"Sure, what is it?" If Tony hadn't been crocked he probably wouldn't have been so willing.

"Will you tell me something?" she asked, "no holds barred, nothing hidden?"

"What is it?" Tony asked.

"How did Frank die? Really? You were working for him when it happened, what happened to him?"

Tony sighed, he knew that there was no simple or shot way to answer that question, so he drew in a long breath. "That's a long story…in the beginning, we 'no work for Frank directly, we worked for Omar."

"Omar who?" Nash asked.

"Omar Suarez…you see, back when Manny an' me were scrubbing grease pans, he got us working for Omar. He use' to tell me 'a little coke money never hurt nobody', so we got into 'dat business, working for Omar…we do' something for him, he took it to Frank, the real boss. But after Angel, I take it directly to Frank myself, he like' me, Elvie on the other hand wasn't so hot about it. Anyway, we work for Frank a little while…no problem, then we go speak to his associate Alejandro Sosa, and Omar, he say he'll do all the talking. But Omar couldn't talk business worth shit, so I do the business with Sosa, and Omar, he get piss' off real quick. As it turned out, Omar…he use to be a nark for the police…so Sosa hung him, and when I got back, Frank was worse than Omar was. That son of a bitch sent 'dis cop Mel Bernstein after me…blackmail, blackmail about Emilio Rebenga, and the people at the motel…and then Frank try' to have me bumped off."

"How?"

"He sent two guys to the Babylon Club where I was…they tore up the place with their guns, they hit many people, me included, but I got out, and I got both Frank and Mel in his office. So now I' taking over."

"Who was Emilio Rebenga?" Nash asked.

"What?"

"You said Emilio Rebenga, and some people in a motel, what do they have to do with anything?" Nash asked.

Tony was too drunk and too upset to stop himself, he found himself pouring out the story of how he and Manny and Angel were able to get their green cards and get out of Freedom town, and from there they were dishwashers until Manny could get them the job with Omar. And it was there at the motel that he lost his good friend Angel to Hector the toad and his associates, all for two keys of yeyo. By that time he was either two drunk, or didn't even notice when he told her all about Angel, how much he'd looked up to Tony and how good of friends they were, like brothers, and how out of all of them, Angel was the only one who would've been content with being a dishwasher. All this said, Tony felt even worse for his death, and finally he broke down crying, and laid himself in a fetal ball.

Nash crawled over to him and held him and cradled his body and gently rocked with him in her arms.

"I'm sorry, Tony…I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you," she said.

"You couldn't have known," Tony said over his sobbing, "I loved that man, I miss him…I…I've never said anything to anyone, but you. You…I know I can trust."

Nash couldn't think of anything to say to that and instead said nothing, she just held Tony and rocked him until he fell to sleep, she joined him shortly after that.

* * *

Tony rolled over and woke up and found himself still in the hotel room. How much time had passed? For that matter, when had he gone to sleep? He looked at the clock which read 12:47 A.M., but still he couldn't tell how long he'd been asleep. It was then that he heard something which disturbed him, he looked over and saw Nash on her bed lying on her side facing away from him, and she was shaking and crying. Immediately Tony swung his feet to the floor and jumped on the bed beside her and he turned her over and was worried that she didn't protest, especially after the way she exploded at him earlier for touching her.

Her eyes were a bright red, and she had dry trails where previous tears had dried and new ones running down her cheeks. The first thought that came to Tony's mind was that if someone had hurt her, he was going to kill them. Instead of just jumping to that conclusion, her gathered her in his arms and leaned against the headboard with her leaning against him and he gently rocked her.

"Nash…Nash…" he said, though he wasn't sure she was hearing him, "what happen'? Are you allright?"

Nash slowly nodded.

"Then w'as wrong?" Tony asked.

Nash pushed herself away from Tony and laid down at the foot of the bed, "You were right, Tony."

"About what?" he asked.

"About some guy trying to…they did try to have their way with me, I didn't let them, but that almost cost me my life."

"Who?" Tony asked, he knew it, he knew it, he was going to kill somebody.

"Omar," Nash answered as she wiped her eyes, "he tried a couple of times but…after I told him if he didn't stop, he'd end up like a Mafia victim, then he quit coming around…and then that's when Mel Bernstein came."

Tony felt his stomach turn and his heart jump in his throat, he was sure before she was through explaining, that he was going to be sick.

"Of course, he was a cop, so there wasn't much that I could do…in fact, after hearing you explain Omar, I'm not sure that he didn't tell Mel about me…"

"Where did this happen?" Tony asked.

"At the casino," she said, "they have rooms you can check into for the night there, so they thought…that was before I started really passing myself off as a guy…but they figured that since I was already working there, I'd have no problem with a jump in the sack, and they told me it would be very beneficial for my salary. But I wouldn't…I wouldn't let them. I told Mel that he could just kill me since I'd sooner die than let him touch me. He turned me down, saying that we'd both enjoy fucking more."

Tony could feel his own eyes welling up with tears, he wished for a minute that the bastards were still alive so he could make them suffer more.

"You…you've done so much for me, Tony…I appreciate it all very much, but I don't know how I'm going to repay you for it all."

"Don't worry about it," Tony said, "it's allright."

"You have no idea how relieved I am to know that they're not going to come back," Nash said.

It was then that Tony realized that she was crying out of joy, relief, the familiar feeling that she had her life back in order, rather than it being swept out from under her. Tony couldn't understand it, nothing made sense about the whole thing, how was it that the miserable sons of bitches he had the misfortune of knowing, could find their way to a kid who wasn't even wrapped up in this business? He couldn't answer himself on that, and he couldn't find any rime or reason for everything that had happened, but he was glad it had. At least he knew that they were dead and they couldn't come after anyone anymore. Tony was at a loss of what else to do, so he just kept his mouth shut and rocked Nash until they both fell asleep.

* * *

By 7 the next morning, Tony's car pulled up to the curb of Nash's home and she jumped out of the car and was heading up to the front door when Tony got out and followed behind her.

"What're you doing?" she asked.

"I' going to make sure there' no misunderstanding with your mother," he replied.

They got up to the porch and Nash opened the front door and called in, "Mom, I'm home!"

Mrs. Owens came around looking pretty much the same as yesterday, only instead of a dress fit for rags, she was wearing a purple and white tie dye dress.

"Now 'dis is much better, what did I tell you?" Tony asked.

"It's good to see you again, Mr. Cagney," she said, "how are you feeling today, Nash?"

"I'm allright," Nash replied.

"Is your foot better today?"

"My foot?"

Tony forgot to tell Nash what he'd told her mother, so he jumped in to the rescue, "She was so tired last night that she went to sleep as soon as we got to the room, and she never even moved…she doesn't remember much of last night too well."

Nash wasn't sure what was going on, but she knew that there was nothing wrong with her foot last night, so Tony must've told her a story to cover up what had really happened, so she decided to go along with it.

"Well thank you for taking such good care of her, Mr. Cagney," Mrs. Owens said.

"Oh please ma'am, the pleasure was all mine," Tony told her, "I'll see you 'round work, Nash."

She nodded, "Allright, see you later."

In time the house had been bought, all the paperwork went directly to Tony, he had good plumbing and central air and heating put in, and he continued to slip Nash money every month to pay for the bills and everything in between. However, it was near a month before he saw her again, and it wasn't under pleasant circumstances.

* * *

Elvira was known from time to time to get awful headaches, and when she did, Tony soon found out it was best if he wasn't around. Well one night she was taken by one again, and while she stayed in her room popping painkillers like popcorn and cussing out the entire staff of the house and throwing things whenever someone entered the room, Tony decided to get out for the night…at least for a few hours until she went to sleep.

Nash told Tony she'd quit working at the Golden Crown, but he wanted to see for himself, beyond shadow of a doubt that she wasn't lying. From what she'd told him before, the Golden Crown was a dangerous place to be, and it certainly wasn't any place for her to be when perverts like Omar and Mel could come crawling in by the dozen. He went in and briefly went around to every single table and asked if she was there, no she wasn't and nobody knew if she would be. Apparently all the employees were new, so Tony tried to find the manager and ask, and when he did, he told Tony what he'd hoped to hear all night long, that Nash hadn't been seen there in over a month. She quitted the job a long while back and hadn't been back since.

As he was leaving the casino, Tony realized that he hadn't seen Nash's house since he bought it, and he was wondering just how she'd had it fixed up since moving in. One thing was for sure, she had to have been living large off the money he was slipping her, and he wanted to see for himself that she was enjoying it. As he headed out to the parking lot, he was about to get in his car when he heard something low, it sounded distant but he knew it wasn't coming from too far away. With all the traffic and the drunks and the noises coming from the casino, it was a wonder Tony could hear it as low as it was, but he did, he heard someone nearby, moaning, it sounded like they were in excruciating pain but didn't have the strength to scream.

Tony headed to the alley behind the casino and found his answer, there was a person lying against the fence beside the garbage cans. While Tony couldn't make out anything about this person he knew that he found the source of the moaning. As stupid a move as it could've been, Tony approached the person hoping to be of service, as he got closer, he was able to make out from the dim lighting from a street light, the figure's features, and his blood turned cold. Nash was all but curled up into a fetal ball holding herself and her wounds, trying not to scream, but keeping that in her seemed to be making it harder for her to stay conscious, she looked like she was about to black out at any time.

Instantly, Tony got right next to her and he pulled her up, careful not to squeeze any of the bruises or cuts on her wrists. He placed his hands on her ribs since they didn't seem to be damaged and he spoke to her as gently as he could being as mad as he was, and he asked her who did it. She didn't answer, she closed her eyes and shook her head and made other groaning and whimpering noises. Tony could've slapped himself for it, she was crying now and he had a feeling he had something to do with it. She wouldn't answer, but it didn't matter right now, right now she needed help, and he knew it. He took her over to his car and he took off his jacket and slipped it on her to collect most of the blood and he laid her down in the backseat and he got them out of there. His first thought was to get her to a hospital but then he realized he couldn't, they would be asking too many questions, maybe even bring in the police.

No, he wouldn't get the police involved in this, no, he knew just what he'd do, he'd call in the same guy who stitched him up the night Frank Lopez tried to have him bumped off, a medical student recommended by Nick the Pig. Then another thought came to mind, Nash had told him before no one else was to know who she was, she told him not to mention her to anybody. Now Tony was a man with no education, but he was smart nevertheless, he came up with an idea quickly, and one he was sure would work. He'd take her to the house, and he wouldn't say who she was, he wouldn't have any idea who this child was. They'd never met, he just happened to find her…or rather, him…yes, Tony would continue her masquerade, so long as they didn't try to undress her, it would work. It would work, it had to work, fortunately Manny didn't even remember what she looked like, so if he were there, only Tony would know the truth.

"Hold on, kid," he told her, "we' almost there."

Tony pulled into the garage and he picked Nash up and carried her over to the house and barely got in the front door when Nick and Ernie saw the sight, and Tony was bombarded with questions. Ignoring the questions in general, he decided to give them just one answer.

"I found 'dis kid in an alley behin' the Golden Crown…somebody fucking beat the shit out of him…Nick, can you get the guy up here who did me?"

"Sure, Tony, sure," and with that, Nick ran off to the nearest phone to call him.

Tony removed his jacket from her and laid her out on the couch, she'd fallen asleep when they got away from the casino and she hadn't woken up since. He placed his hands gently on the less battered parts of her face and tried to get her attention to wake her up. "Hey kid, can you hear me? Kid…"

"Tony, he's not waking up," Ernie told him, careful not to set Tony off, Tony could have an explosive temper when he was upset.

"I know," Tony replied.

Manny was there on a visit tonight and when he heard all the ruckus he came to the living room to see what was going on. Tony was right, he didn't remember her.

"Who's the kid?" he asked.

Tony shook his head, "I don't know…I jus' found him somewhere…somebody…they beat the shit out of him."

"I can see that," Manny said, "any idea why?"

Tony shook his head again, "Nick's calling for someone."

"A doctor?" Manny asked.

"No' exactly."

Nick returned to the living room with the news that the guy would be there in about half an hour.

"Now what?" Tony asked.

"There's nothing to do in the meantime but wait, man," Manny told him.

Nothing to do but wait…that would be the hardest part to it.

The man got there sooner than expected, he asked the usual questions as he looked her over, who was he, what happened to him, where had he been found, did he have any ID. All of the questions Tony answered that he didn't know, except that he found him in a dark alley somewhere.

"He must've done something," Ernie said.

"Why?" Tony asked.

"Nobody beats the hell out of someone else for no reason," Ernie told him.

"That's bullshit and you know it! No bastard needs a reason to do something like this. There is no reason, but if I find him, he's a dead man."

The medical student did everything he could, he treated the bruises, bandaged up the cuts, gave Tony a bottle of painkillers for the kid and he was to take two of them every four hours. Tony also asked for a bottle of smelling salts, the guy said it wasn't necessary, but Tony insisted, and after getting them, he paid the guy and Manny showed him out. After that, Tony basically drove everyone out of the room to be alone with the kid, he told them he didn't want the kid waking up and seeing all of them and thinking the Mafia had him. After he'd gotten rid of them, he took the bottle of smelling salts and released the potent odor only an inch within her nose, and it did the trick.

She opened her eyes and looked straight up at Tony, and it looked like she was going to pass out again, but she didn't. "Tony?"

"What happen', kid?" Tony asked her.

Nash shook her head, "nothing."

It was late and Tony was tired and after what he'd seen he was in no mood for arguing, however he was also too exhausted to yell either. "Come on, kid, I know something happened, now just tell me who he is and I'll take care o' him."

Nash looked around and realized the setting was unfamiliar. "Where are we?"

"My home."

"Is anyone here?" she asked.

"Ernie and Nick and Manny, but I sent them away, and Elvie…she's upstairs with a headache, she don't know abou' you, and the servants saw you come in…but nobody knows you, and nobody's here now…now tell me wha' happened."

Nash tried to sit up and with Tony's help she was able to, she tried to look him in the eyes as she told him. "This guy…I don't know him, he came after me, apparently he's seen me around…he thinks I'm a guy…and he notices that I don't go towards the women, so you know what he's thinking about me."

Tony nodded, "homosexual." He was asked if he was one when he first got to America.

"And this guy won't even ask questions, he just goes in for the kill…after he beat me to a pulp, I thought if I showed him I wasn't a guy…then I figured it'd be better if he just beat me to death taking me for a guy. If he knew I was a girl he probably would've raped me, just like Omar and Mel tried to…only he would've succeeded…so I didn't do anything, and he left me, probably to bleed to death."

"Except you're no' that seriously hurt," Tony told her.

"You had a doctor do this?" she asked.

"No' quite…he hasn't finished medical school yet," Tony told her, "but he's allright, he sewed me up just fine after Frank."

Nash looked at him through half-closed eyes, he could tell all she wanted to do right now was sleep, he knew that because even to him, her eyelids looked like they weighed a hundred pounds each.

Tony got some extra bedding out of the closet and he stuck a pillow behind her head and threw a couple of blankets over her and told her he'd take her back home in the morning.

"I almost forgot," Tony said. He went into the kitchen and came back with a glass of water, "he said to take two painkillers every four hours."

He gave her the water and the pills and immediately after taking them she fell asleep. Even in sleep she managed to get out a low but audible, "Thank you," to Tony, and to him, that was all the pay back he needed for everything he'd done for her. It would be about seven hours before morning, and when morning came he'd get her out of there. In the meantime, he wasn't going anywhere so he parked himself in a chair right by the couch, and stayed up the night watching her.


End file.
